Internal combustion engine



Dec. 28, 1937. P, R MCCRARY 2,1@3,787

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE 7 Filed Feb. 28, 1936 5 SheetsSheet l Dac.28, 11937.

' P. R. M CRARY INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE Filed Feb. 28, 1936 3 SheetsSheet Z g; 0 o O Um 28, 3937., P. R. M CRARY V INTERNAL COMBUSTIONENGINE s Sheets-Sheei s Filed Feb. 28, 1936 Patented Dec. 28, 1937UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE ington, D. 0.

Application February 28, 1936, Serial No. 66,275

5 Claims.

This invention relates to internal combustion engines, and moreparticularly to two-cycle rotary internal combustion engines.

The principal object of the invention is to provide an internalcombustion engine of the rotary type which in large measure eliminatesthe losses due to reciprocating parts, and in which no valves are used.a v

A further object is to provide a rotary engine in which the cylindersare carried by the fiy wheel, being disposed radially so as to servevirtually as spokes of said fly wheel, which imparts a gyroscopic effectand action to the engine.

A still further object is to provide a rotary engine so constructed thatit utilizes the exhaust gases from the cylinder to produce an impulse onthe principle of a rocket.

A still further object is to provide a transmission system of gears ofgreatly simplified construction and which is especially adapted tofunction with the herein described engine.

Other objects of the invention will appear in what follows.

One embodiment of the invention will now be described, as a non-limitingexample, in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure1 is a vertical cross-section in the plane of the axis of a one cylinderengine built according to the invention;

Figure 2 is a side view of a clutch member forming a part of the powertransmission system;

Figure 3 is a vertical cross-section of the engine shown in Figurel, ina plane at right angles thereto;

Figure 4 is a side elevation partly in cross-section of a two cylinderengine built according to the invention;

Figure 5 is a partial view in vertical cross-section of a two cylinderengine in the plane of the axis;

Figure 6 is a central view cross-section, and Figure '7 is a side Viewof the gear transmission system.

Referring now to Fig. 1, the crank shaft 8, which is hollow, enclosesthe intake manifold 9, the latterbeing connected at H] to the carburetor(not shown) and having a port II on one side of the hollow crank pin.Crank shaft 8 is fixed with relation to the rest of the engine and isthe axle whereon cylinder wheel l2 revolves. It is mounted on andsecured to chassis frame l3 by lock nut l4 and key l5.. Frame l3alsocarries electric wire, I6 through to distributor I1 and acts as abearing for hub l8 carrying spokes [9 of the vehicle wheel. Spokes I9are set on the opposite side of the wheel in hub I8a set on main bearing20, which in turn is mounted on chassis frame l3a. At 2| is shown thelocation of a rim to carry a rubber tire, of which a part 22 is alsoshown.

Piston 23 is of the usual two-cycle construction. except that port 24 isso formed as to draw its gas from the upper portion of the piston, thuscreating a circulation of gas in the direction of the arrow around wristpin 25 and in contact with the walls of the hot piston. This serves thetwofold purpose of heating the incomin as and at the same time coolingthe piston, and the system of fins 26 aids in this cooling process.

Rod 21 is connected in the usual manner to wrist pin 25, which is ofordinary construction except that it is tapped at both ends so that itcan be inserted and removed through plug 28. The lower end of rod 2!acts as a valve which automatically opens and closes intake port H ofintake manifold 9 by means of port 29.

Cylinder head 30 differs from ordinary cylinder heads in that it has achamber 3| which extends beyond the spark plug connection, the positionof the spark plug being the inverse of that which it ordinarilyoccupies. This is necessary because of the fact that the centrifugalaction tends to cause separation of the oil from the gas, and theconstruction illustrated serves to prevent lodgment or accumulation ofoil on the points of the spark plugs, and causes it to be carried intothe explosion chamber 3|. This explosion chamber has no cooling fins andwhen heated from the explosion of'the gases acts as an additionalignition means, causing complete combustion of the oil. This is anaddition to the ignition caused by spark plug 32.

The cylinder wheel l2, which is made of cast ,iron, is surrounded bysteel ring 33, which adds thereto sufiicient weight to produce effectivegyroscopic action. Moreover, the steel band imparts additional strengthto the wheel such as to permit rotation thereof at a much higher rate ofspeed than the cast iron web, without such reinforcement, couldwithstand.

Starting from the point of firing as shown in Figs. 1 and 3, it willreadily be seen that, owing to the presence of the deflector 34 onpiston 23 and to the fact that the wheel and not the crank is themovable part, the explosion will impart a torque to wheel 12. Then,since the piston connection with the crank pin is eccentric to the axisof the wheel, the turning of the wheel will cause the piston toreciprocate with relation to the cylinder. When the wheel has made aquarter turn, the piston on its down stroke will reach approximately theposition of line AA, exhaust port 35 will be about half open, and theburnt gases, which are under considerable pressure, will rush outsuddenly, giving a second impulse to the wheel of a rocket-like nature.Thus it will be seen that there are two impulses in this engine fromevery explosion of the gases in the cylinder.

When the wheel has made a half turn, the piston will be at the end ofits down stroke, and chamber 3| in the top of the cylinder will be putinto direct communication with duct 24 in the piston head throughchannel 36 in the cylinder wall. already been compressed by the downstroke of the piston, will rush through the hollow piston head andaround wrist pin 25, through port 24 into channel 36 and thence intoexplosion chamber 3|. Deflector 34 then directs the gas to the upperpart of the cylinder, thus forcing out any burnt gas that might still bethere.

When the wheel reaches the three-quarter point, ports Hand 29 will.coincide, and the suction produced in the crank case by the up stroke ofthe piston will draw a fresh supply of gas from intake manifold 9 intothe crank case, where it will be compressed by the next .down stroke ofthe piston and drawn into the firing chamber at the end of that downstroke as described above. The timing of the explosions is controlled bydistributor H, ofstandard construction, mounted on the outer side ofmain bearing 31 and chassis frame l3.

The construction of the crank case is an important feature of theinvention. It is enclosed on one side by main bearing 31 and on theopposite side by cover 38, which is preferably cast integral with shaft39. 8, and there could be a loss of'crank case compression between them,it is essential that this space be sealed in some way. This isaccomplished by means of oil ways and grease seals 40. As a furtherinsurance, the oil-retaining dirt excluders 4| are employed. They arerings of metal, fiber or brake band material, and are inserted half wayinto each of the adjacent parts at points where otherwise centrifugalforce would tend to throw outthe grease or oil from the bearing. Notonly is the grease thus kept in, but also dirt and'other foreignsubstances are prevented from getting into the bearing from the outside.Heretofore this matter, of retaining compression in the crank case hasbeen one of the greatest difficulties in twocycle engines, and theabove-described construction effectually overcomes this difficulty. I

Manifold 9 is placed wholly within the crank case, thus serving a doublepurpose. Itreduces the cubic contents by about one-third, therebygreatly facilitating attainment of the properprecompression of the gas.heat, bearing 3?, connecting rod 21 and piston head 23 are cooled andthe gas itself is pre-heated before admission to explosion chamber 3|.

The gear transmission system forms, in the one cylinder constructionillustrated in Figs. 1 and 3, a part of) the counterbalance in additionto weights 42. Its position in the two cylinder engine is shown in Fig.4, and it is counterbalanced as illustrated in order to maintain thebalance of the fly wheel and gyroscopic effect of the engine. Itconsists of only four gears, 43, 44, 45 and 46. Gear 44 is fixed to orin one piece with main bearing 20, to which movable clutch-member 41 Thegases in the crank case, which have 'F will also remain stationary.Since bearing 31 revolves on shaft Also, by exchange of is directlyattached by keys 48. The two-part stationary clutch-member 49 isoperated by lever 59 as shown in Fig. 2.

Gears 45 and 4B are keyed or otherwise attached to shaft 5! which turnsin ball bearings 52 and is held in place by end bearings -53. Spur gear43 is attached to vehicle wheel hub l8. The whole transmission system isenclosed in housings 54 and 541.

When the engine is running idle and the vehicle wheel is not moving,clutch 49 is released, thus allowing parts 44, 20 and 41 to revolvefreely. When the clutch is applied, parts 20, 41 and 44 will be heldstationary, and hence gear 43 will be'forced to revolve, as will beexplained below, carrying with it vehicle wheel IS.

The construction and operation of the gear transmission system will bemore clearly understood by reference to Figs. 6 and '7 of the drawings,which show the transmission. reduced to its simplest form. r

The driving shaft A and the driven shaft B are in the same axis. Thepower arm P is keyed rigidly to shaft A and carries the counterweight L,which corresponds to the cylinder in the one cylinder engine. Large gearG is fixed to mov able clutch-member I and when released turns freelyon: shaft A. Large gear F is fixed to shaft B, as is movableclutch-member K. Pinion gears D and E are keyed to shaft C. 7 Power armP revolves on shaft .A as shown in Fig. 7, carrying with it shaft C andits two gears D and E. With both clutches H and J released, gear G willturn freely and gear F will remain stationary. With clutch I-I applied,gear G will remain stationary. .If F and G each have the same number ofteeth and likewise D and E, Similarly, if clutch J is applied, the samesituation will 'result with respect to gear G. If, however, there is adifference in the number of teeth between F and G or between D and E, aforward or reverse movement of F will take place when clutch H isapplied.

Thus if G has 60 teeth, D and E 20 teeth each and F 61' teeth, whenclutch H is applied, F will advance one tooth for every completerevolution of P. If H is released'and J applied, G will reverse onetooth for every revolution of 'P. The driven gear F, therefore, willrevolve once for every sixty-one revolutions of P, and the driven gear Gonce for every'sixty revolutions of P. In other words, the speed of thedriving shaft has been transmitted to the driven shaft with a reductionof 60 to 1 by the use of only four gears.

V This arrangement of gears can be used for an infinite number of ratiosof speed reduction or increase by simply varying the number of teeth inthe various gears in accordance with the following simple principles, inwhich G is the number of teeth in the driving '(or stationary) gear,

, F is the number. of teeth in the driven gear, and

D and. E the number of teeth in the pinion. gears respectively asdesignated by those letters in Fig. 6

The invention is applicable. to internal as well as to external gearing;and when applied to in- (-5 ternal gearing it results in a more compactstructure.

The same general construction used in a one cylinder engine builtaccording to the invention may be employed in engines of any practicablenumber of cylinders, except for a few necessary modifications. Some ofsuch modifications are shown, by way of non-limiting examples, in Figs.4 and 5.

The locations of the gear transmission system and its counterbalance areshown in Fig. 4. For engines of more than two cylinders they can be putat any similar point so long as the balance of the fly wheel ismaintained. It will be noticed that in Fig. 4 a conventional form ofintake port to the cylinder is illustrated rather than that describedabove and shown in Fig. 3.

The connections of the piston rods of a two cylinder engine are shown inFig. 5. It will be noted that there is only one set of intake ports Hand 29, but there will be ample intake if said ports are made slightlylarger than in the one cylinder engine.

An important feature of the multi-cylinder engine of this invention isthat opposite cylinders fire simultaneously instead of each cylinderfiring in rotation, as is usually the case. The advantage of thesimultaneous firing of opposite cylinders is that the shock of each isneutralized by that of the other. Approximately fifty percent of theusual vibration is thus eliminated.

In the one cylinder construction this vibration is minimized by sotiming the explosion that it occurs when the cylinder is at its highestpoint above ground; the effect being that the ground absorbs the shock.Moreover, when the engine is used for propulsion of a vehicle, theexplosions assist the traction by forcing the wheel against the ground.

What is claimed is:--

1. An internal combustion engine comprising: a stationary crank shaft; arotatable cylinderoarrying member mounted on said crank shaft; a drivinggear mounted upon a bearing constituting a support for said engine androtatable upon said crank shaft, and a driven gear mounted upon abearing constituting a support for said engine and rotatable with saidsupport, each of said gears being concentric with said cylindercarryingmember; a clutch member for said driving gear, operable to hold saiddriving gear against rotation to transmit motion from saidcylinder-carrying member to said driven gear and when released to enablesaid engine to run idle; and a pair of concentric intermediate gearscarried by said cylinder-carrying member.

2. An internal combustion engine comprising: a stationary crank shaft; arotatable cylindercarrying member mounted on said crank shaft; a drivinggear mounted upon a bearing constituting a support for said'engine androtatable upon said crank shaft, and a driven gear mounted upon abearing constituting a support for said engine and rotatable with saidsupport, each of said gears being concentric with said cylindercarryingmember, said driven gear having more teeth than said driving gear; aclutch member for said driving gear, operable to hold said driving gearagainst rotation to transmit motion from said cylinder-carrying memberto said driven gear and when released to enable said engine to run idle;and a pair of concentric intermediate gears carried by saidcylinder-carrying member.

3. An internal combustion engine comprising: a stationary crank shaft; arotatable cylindercarrying member mounted on said crank shaft; a drivinggear mounted upon a bearing constituting a support for said engine androtatable upon said crank shaft, and a driven gear mounted upon abearing constituting a support for said engine and rotatable with saidsupport, each of said gears being concentric with said cylindercarryingmember; a clutch member for said driving gear, operable to hold saiddriving gear against rotation to transmit motion from saidcylinder-carrying member to said driven gear and when released to enablesaid engine to run idle; and a pair of concentric intermediate gearscarried by said cylinder-carrying member, one of said intermediate gearshaving more teeth than its fellow.

4. An internal combustion engine mounted in a wheel, and comprising: astationary crank shaft; a rotatable cylinder-carrying member mounted onsaid crank shaft and concentric with said wheel; a driving gear mountedupon a bearing constituting a support for said engine and rotatable uponsaid crank shaft, and a driven gear fixed to a hub of said wheel, eachof said gears being concentric with said cylinder-carrying member; aclutch member for said driving gear, operable to hold said driving gearagainst rotation'to transmit motion from said cylindercarrying memberto'said wheel and when released to enable said engine to run idle; and apair of concentric intermediate gears carried by said cylinder-carryingmember.

5. An internal combustion engine mounted in a wheel, and comprising: astationary crank shaft; a rotatable cylinder-carrying member mounted onsaid crank shaft and concentric with said wheel; a driving gear mountedupon a bearing constituting a support for said engine and rotatable uponsaid crank shaft, and a driven gear fixed to a hub of said wheel,'eachof said gears being concentric with said cylinder-carrying member, saiddriven gear having more teeth than said driving gear; a clutch memberfor said driving gear, operable to hold said driving gear againstrotation to transmit motion. from said cylinder-carrying member to saidwheel and when released to enable said engine to run idle; and a pair ofconcentric intermediate gears carried by said cylinder-carrying member.

PIERCE R. MCCRARY.

